BANGALORE: The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) is planning to float tenders on August 19 for double-tracking of Hospet-Thenaighat route, which is RVNL’s first major railway project in the state and the first railway project in the country to be undertaken by taking a loan. RVNL Chief Project Manager Alok Tiwari said the Asian Development Bank had already approved the loan of `900 crore. “We will be issuing time-bound contracts and the entire project would be completed within a time span of three years,” he added.One of the important features of this project is that it is being undertaken within one year of its entry into the pink book. Many projects that entered into the pink book more than 10 years ago are still pending. The railways had earlier divided the project into three packages and invited tenders for all the three. The 78-km stretch from Hubli and Harlapur is the first package and the ground works is expected to be completed at a cost of `154 crore. The 70-km stretch between Harlapet and Dharwad through Hubli constituted the second package and it would be undertaken at a cost of Rs166 crore, and the 75-km Dharwad-Thenaighat stretch forms the third package, which would be undertaken at the next level, at the cost of Rs142 crore.Considering the heavy traffic and demand for introducing goods trains from Hospet to Vasco in Goa, to transport ore from the mining areas of the state, the railways had sanctioned double-tracking of a 245-km stretch from Hospet to Thenaighat, and the project entered into the pink book in 2010-11.The railways had completed double-tracking at various places covering a total distance of 40 km. The railways handed over the project to Rail Vikas Nigam Limite and directed it to undertake it either on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis or by obtaining a loan.
Comments
0 comment